"Will Qian Feng and Nitian come up to the stage?"

Hearing the name of his competitor, Qian Feng's complexion darkened slightly. Of all the candidates that he did not want to face, this one ranked at least around two or three, because of his pure mystique. Much like what Qian Feng did, Nitian defeated his opponent effortlessly, without revealing anything at all. The fact that he had the capabilities to do so meant that he was someone not to be trifled with, which Qian Feng took to mean that he would rather not fight him. After all, even if the boy won, he would undoubtedly be placed in a more disadvantageous position than the other noteworthy candidates, something he did not want either. So, how to pull this fight off?

An idea struck him right when he landed on the stage, thinking furiously. Since being somewhat exposed was inevitable, why not expose the wrong things?

Facing off against Nitian, neither of them spoke as they sized up their opponents - the two experts were well beyond the point of useless bluster.

Fitting his mysterious persona, Nitian was enshrouded in a black cloak covering his whole body, not revealing anything at all. His fighting style, weapons, and even his body type were completely ambiguous.

Qian Feng readied himself, firing up his Force Qi.

"Begin!"

He darted forward, shoving all of his Force Qi into his legs and generating a blast of power that sent him hurtling forwards at speeds unseen at Qian Feng's cultivation level, almost as if he was a cultivator focusing on speed.

Nitian, however, was ready. By the time his opponent was upon him, he had gotten into a strange stance and was emitting a power of Qi that Qian Feng had never seen before - it was almost as if his aura was in perpetual motion, flowing, rushing, all in the same direction, powerfully yet smoothly, like the coursing river or the great gust.

Right before the moment of impact, several hypotheses as to Nitian's affinity were made. It was possible that he had a technique completely unrelated to his affinity, and no conclusions could be made, or that he had one of two affinities Qian Feng knew about: Water or Air.

Water focused on fluidity and versatility - depending on a user's choice, it could be used effectively for offense, defense, healing, or movement. However, the Water affinity excelled in effective combinations of these aspects - unqiue ones that could not be emulated by other affinities. This fluidity might seem minor at first, but in a fight, Water users were known, despite what they focused on, to redirect attacks and move with skill and flexibility out of reach for any other common affinity user.

Air focused on sharp, quick movements. It wasn't as fast as Light, or as damaging as Force, but the effective combination of these two made for a powerful affinity. Cultivators with the Air affinity abused their advantages, darting around the battlefield and dodging powerful attacks, all while throwing out piercing strikes. This fearsome capability, however, was somewhat reduced by the frailty of the Air affinity - the best an Air cultivator could do when met with an attack they could not dodge was attempt to redirect it; an Air shield could be shattered easily even by cultivators entire levels below the cultivator in question. Despite this, there was no mistaking the Air affinity's powerful battle potential.

Given his stance, Nitian could proceed two ways, each way corresponding to the possible affinity.

If he had the Water affinity, Nitian would redirect the attack and attempt to send Qian Feng crashing into the ground, abusing his ease of movement to avoid getting hit by a particularly damaging strike.

If he had the Air affinity, on the other hand, that stance would set up a complete dodge, where Nitian would avoid contact altogether, and likely send some attacks while Qian Feng was off balance from the backlash.

Preparing himself, Qian Feng sent a lightning-fast hook kick at Nitian's head, using Force Qi to increase its speed to insane proportions, but not to directly magnify his attack - then his affinity could be detected(Qi can be sensed and analyzed quickly if it comes into contact with another, similar-level cultivator).

As Qian Feng had predicted in one of the two possibilities, Nitian darted out of the way, gathering his Wind Qi(the hypothesis was all but confirmed now even if Qian Feng didn't know for sure) to send a sharp wind blade hurtling at Qian Feng.

Now, normally, Qian Feng would block it, but for the sake of his facade, he had no choice but to create a Force Qi barrier, since he was still in midair, that he could use as a foothold to stomp on and go flying to the side, successfully dodging the rapid attack.

Repeating the maneuver, Qian Feng leapt around the battlefield, never once touching the ground as he dodged the numerous wind blades being thrown at him, all while approaching his opponent.

Finally, he reached Nitian and, preventing what happened last time from repeating, focused nearly all of his Force Qi into his leg, making it impossible to dodge at Nitian's level. This trememndous power, when landing on Nitian, sent him sprawling backwards, unconscious.

Qian Feng smiled, knowing that his evil plan had worked - make the actual competition believe he was a Wind affinity, or at least, a cultivator who focused on speed, which couldn't be further from the truth.

Knowing his next fight would be a while later, and that that fight would likely be his last, Qian Feng set out to wait.